Ernest Alba's Blog

Dial-up: The Scourge of Technology's Past and Present

Once, I said that switching from DSL or any high speed internet to dial-up or any low speed internet was the worst thing in the world. My friend Josh and my Calculus teacher Mr. Ward mocked me for saying that. They made me believe I was wrong. I've just come back home from MIT. I've come from high speed LAN to dial-up. I was right. There's nothing worse.

I wanted to view a map on Google Maps because I was going to someone's house. It took an entire minute to load the page. And the picture didn't finish loading. I had to refresh and wait another minute for it to display in full. Going through the process of buying a plane ticket is especially harrowing. I dread every "next" button at the bottom of each page because it means I have to wait another 15-30 seconds for another page to load. I have to carefully choose which pages to load and make efficient use of bandwidth. Otherwise, I'd be here for hours to view a handful of pages. I don't even bother trying to download files over 4mb. It would take hours, meanwhile hogging most of the bandwidth, which means no browsing in the meantime.

I need iTunes for my iPod. I don't have the CD, so I need to download it from the website. The Installer is 35 mb. Roughly two and a half hours to download. I can't do it. Fortunately, I found a copy of the installer file on my sister's computer. I stuck it on my pen drive and downloaded it to the laptop. I clicked on the installer icon...and was met by a window saying, "You must have Quicktime 7 to install iTunes. Please download it now and try this installer later." I had a copy of Quicktime 7....in Boston. Not here. I would have to download it. But the installer file is 20mb. An hour and a half to two hours roughly. I can't do it.

I'm at my wit's end. There is nothing more infuriating than getting half-loaded pages, time-outs, error messages, and a myriad of other problems simply because of the pathetically, horrendously, disgustingly awful transfer speeds of dial-up. I've gotten used to a diet of Youtube, Vsocial, Google Video, and, most importantly, podcasts. I can have none of it. None. Dial-up should be outlawed. And companies should be forced to provide some sort of high speed to consumers everywhere.

Dixie Chicks

Rock on, girls. Rock on.

Film Review: United 93

Connoisseurs of literature, art, music, and other traditional forms of human expression often criticize film for being a medium unworthy of representing humanity, the natural world, and the universe - not particularly because the medium itself is less expressive, but because the venue cheapens the value and tarnishes the image of an otherwise dignified piece of work. In particular, the way in which films are marketed and sold indelibly creates a necessity among those who finance films to expect profit from any potential films that land on their desks. When a film is made for money, the film becomes less the vision of an artist and more the cheap entertainment that sells much better than a truly inspired film. So the argument goes.

However, I argue that if a filmmaker does not compromise his vision and presents his ideas without removing or adding material in order to please audiences, it matters not whether it was financed for profit, whether it was made for the sake of profit, or whether it makes profit. The film itself - the work of art - is untouched by the soiled hands of corporate greed. With this in mind, I introduce you to Paul Greengrass's United 93.

This is a powerful, haunting re-enactment of several events that occurred during September 11, 2001. With no room for exploitative emotions or gratuitous violence, United 93 remains stolidly outside of the action, the emotions, and the politics. It only observes, sometimes with quiet fervor and other times with intense vigor, the people who played a significant role in the hours between the boarding and final destination of United Flight 93. This is not a criticism of the war. This is not an attack on Muslims. This is not propaganda. It is a sincere, sorrowful response to that sad day.

At times, I felt incredibly sad. At others, simply awed by the enormity of the event. Imagine the hatred and cunning that must have gone into preparing such an attack. Why have we responded with equal cunning and hatred? Other times during the film, I felt anger. Anger at our nearly total self-exclusion from the rest of the world, a self-exclusion that, in part, contributes to feelings of enmity towards us and also contributes to a sad dereliction of duty on our part to aid the rest of the world, without attempting to govern it. I felt anger at the people who behaved with such incompetency that only I could have behaved more incompetently.

One action (not portrayed in the film) angers me to my core. It's something I can never forgive. Certainly, I can forgive people. People can change. Actions, however, I can't forgive. They remain forever unchanged in the past and contribute to events in the present and future. George W. Bush, upon hearing from Andrew Card that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center and America was "under attack", did what he thought was right - project strength and calm... and remain seated in a chair in an elementary school in Sarasota, FL for seven minutes. A precious stretch of time, considering only 37 minutes elapsed between the two attacks on the World Trade Center. After reading the segment in the report by the 9/11 Commission where Bush defends himself for those 7 minutes of inaction, I know that what he had done was similar to what I would have done. I would have reasoned out in my head that sitting in that chair was the best thing I could be doing. Sure, I'm doing a world of good sitting here. First, I don't actually have to DO anything. Second, I can portray an image of fearlessness and confidence to Americans and to the terrorists. Not incompetency - confidence...when in reality, I'm scared out of my mind. Sure, scared witless because the U.S. is being attacked, but more so because my presidency won't be the walk in the ranch I had been expecting...

Mr. Bush, know, please know that I can't respect a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America - the leader of the most powerful military in the history of mankind when he - face it - freezes. Military men take action. You did nothing. Who knows if anything would have happened differently if you had immediately gotten up, excused yourself, and issued some orders - perhaps to allow military aircraft to engage rogue airplanes. But, it would have been worth a try. Don't you think?

8.02

My alarm reads 5:11 AM. I lean back in my chair and glance out of the window across the room over Americo's bed. Light is beginning to peek through the trees outside. This is what it comes to: my last ditch effort to make the best grade possible on my physics final in the final four hours before the test begins. All I have to show: a few pieces of paper of scribbled equations and numbers, an attempt to refresh and remember the concepts I need to know. Will this last spurt of energy carry over into the testing period? Only time will tell...

Film Review: The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code has been publicly and viciously torn apart by movie critics. The storm of criticism began on Tuesday night at Cannes in France. It continued through the week, fueled by boycotts from various religious organizations and even an organization of Albinos. Several prominent members of the Church have given various opinions, either deeming the movie morally offensive or a harmless fictional fantasy. Does the film by acclaimed director Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Sir Ian Mckellan, Audrey Tatou, and Jean Reno - the biggest celebrities in their respective countries - does this film deserve all of the derision it has received?

In a word, no. This is a competently acted, superbly directed, taut and suspenseful thriller. It never misses a beat, always moving on to bigger and darker secrets. Most importantly, it takes itself seriously, allowing us to unapologetically believe in the "facts" it asks us to consider. The biggest disappointments in this film are Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou. Hanks is a lukewarm version of the fiercely determined and highly intelligent Harvard symbologist I remember from the book. Audrey Tatou, while looking as beautiful as ever, has zero chemistry with Hanks' character and is completely unconvincing in crucial scenes of high emotion, such as the famous opening scene where her grandfather is stretched out on the floor of the Louvre, cold and lifeless. The film, however, remains very faithful to the book. To my recollection, only one scene was drastically shortened - the scene from the book where Professor Langdon searches the database of a library in London. In the film, the search is done from a cell phone on a bus. As it remains faithful to the book, it too carries the same sense of intrigue and mystery that accompanied the book. The secrets that unfolded so slowly and monumentally in the book are reproduced marvelously. Ron Howard uses some techniques reminiscent of films he's done in the past. In cracking the codes, for example, the pieces of the code light up like the letters in A Beautiful Mind.

Despite having read the novel or maybe because of it, I was absorbed by the film and the quest for the Holy Grail. The At two and a half hours, the journey was long, but every minute of it was filled with interesting pseudo-science and factoids. There's even the possiblity that this movie will initiate open dialogue among audiences about issues in the Church, Christianity, and religion, in general. I consider that a positive sign.

Quick Film Reviews: Munich, Walk the Line, Annie Hall, Silent Hill

I've seen too many movies that I want to review. Unfortuantely, I have little time to review as I have finals coming up. So, for the sake of brevity, I'll give them a grade and some key words.

Silent Hill - terrible, doesn't make sense, kind of creepy, sometimes offensively violent = 1/5 stars
Munich - intense, gripping, dramatic, Jose was right - Spielberg can do no wrong = 4.5/5 stars
Walk the Line - funny, romantic, great music, not emotionally convincing = 4/5 stars
Annie Hall - quick, witty, dry, insightful, classic Woody Allen = 4.9/5 stars
2001: A Space Odyssey - bursting with imagination, artistically inspiring, emotionally moving, absolutely brilliant = 5 stars

Coming soon: The Da Vinci Code and United 93

Dell's Decision to Use Advanced Micro Chips Is Blow to Intel

I was shocked when I read the above headline on Bloomberg today. Imagine: Dell and Intel - not bosom buddies anymore. The names used to always go hand in hand. You think Dell computers and a microsecond later, you think Intel processors. It's like Fox News and the Bush Administration - you can't imagine them apart from one another. Now there's a third person involved - AMD. Dell is deciding to use AMD chips inside of several of its servers instead of Intel chips. Man, what a blow that is to Intel.

Now that I think about it - a lot of shocking news has been happening lately in the Technosphere. You can't imagine my reaction when I read that Apple was using Intel processors instead of its PowerPC CRAP processors. I was glad for that change. And I almost fainted when I heard about Boot Camp - you know, Windows XP ON A MAC. Has the world gone insane? Indeed, I believe it has. What's next? Jaguar on PC? open-source Vista? HP using Intel chips? Sony losing its dominance in the video gaming world to Microsoft and Nintendo because of its highly-priced and unimaginative PS3? The Phantom coming to terms with the sad and pathetic fact that it doesn't exist? Haha - now THAT would be insane.

Film Preview: The Da Vinci Code

The novel has already sold over 40 million copies. 1 in 5 Brits have read it. Despite being utterly ridiculous fiction, it has had an impact on the way people view the Catholic Church and Opus Dei. The movie adaptation, starring heavyweights Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou, Sir Ian McKellan, and Jean Reno and directed by none other than Ron Howard, will be the biggest blockbuster of the year. Or will it?

The film was screened for the first time at Cannes Tuesday night, where critics lined up for hours to see the most hyped movie this year, The Da Vinci Code. After 2 and a half hours, the critics came out of the theatre. Several have already written and printed their reviews. Almost none give The Da Vinci Code a positive review. As of now, it is one of the most poorly reviewed movies of the year. In this preliminary stage, Rottentomatoes.com has five reviews posted. None are positive. Could it be that despite a star cast, incredible director, and the storytelling ability of Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code sucks? I and millions of Americans will find out this Friday.

From reviews already printed:

Todd McCarthy, Variety "Nothing really works. It's not suspenseful. It's not romantic. It's certainly not fun."

Stephen Schaefer, The Boston Herald"I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way."

James Rocchi, CBS 5 television, San Francisco"Action set pieces, themselves fairly pedestrian, become counterpoints to endless exposition scenes and no amount of sweeping camera moves can cover what is essentially a filmed lecture."

Joe Utichi, filmfocus.co.uk"It's a movie about whether the greatest story ever told is true or not, and it's not the greatest movie ever screened, is it?"

Baz Bamigboye, London's Daily Mail"Too long. And boring. If you want to see a movie about the Holy Grail, see Indiana Jones."

Though, they aren't all bad:

Igor Soukmanov, Unistar Radio in Belarus"For most of its overlong 2½ hours, the film is enticing. And surprising in that it's not Tom Hanks - solid as usual - or French film star Audrey Tautou who make the movie tick. It's Sir Ian McKellen, who appears about a quarter to halfway through the proceedings and very sublimely scores himself an Academy Award nomination."

Women and Global Activism in Art, Media and Politics

We just had our last class in SP.409, a course that "explores theoretical issues and concerns underlying global feminisms, and their expression through diverse forms of feminist activism at the community, national, and transnational levels." Below are the pictures from our last day:

A little about Professor Manjrekar:

Dr. Nandini Manjrekar teaches at the Women's Studies Research Centre, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. She works on issues of gender and education in India and is currently a visiting scholar in the Program in Women's Studies at MIT. She has been active in women's and civil liberties movements in India. Her published and forthcoming papers include: "Through the Looking Glass: Gender Socialization in a Primary School" (Sage, 1999), Women's Worlds, Women's Words (M.S. University of Baroda, 2000), The Last First: Participatory Research in Women's Development (M.S. University of Baroda, 2000) and Landscapes of a Different Kind (Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 2002.)

Cell Phones - please stop existing or start working

Few things piss me off more than bad phone reception. Is it too much to ask for cell phones to work EVERYWHERE? I don't care if the signal has to get through concrete, glass, metal, or whatever. It's freakin' 2006 and cell phones have been around for more than TWENTY years! Why has technology not developed that allows signal strength to remain strong no matter where you go? I'm sure there are technical "scientific" answers for these questions, but I'm not interested in answers. I want results. If I have to hear that stupid sound again that says my call isn't going through, I will throw my phone against the wall. It's ridiculous to have to walk around in concentric circles, waving a cell phone in the air and looking for more bars. We should have to do a lot of things in this world, but not that.

The Console War: Xbox, Playstation, Wii battle it out

I don't know if you've been following up on the console war, but it's getting exciting.

Analysts tend to be divided along party lines (some are Xbox fans, some Playstation, etc) so it's hard to find the actual truth through all the BS.

But it seems that a few things are true:

1. The PS3 is prohibitively expensive.
2. Microsoft has an excellent line-up of games including Halo 3 and GTA that will ensure it stays in the game. It scored a particularly important victory by getting GTA to appear in its line-up without having it on the PS3 first.
3. Despite being a less capable system (and therefore, less expensive) than either the 360 or the PS3, Nintendo's Wii is captivating audiences because of it's radically different mode of usage, namely the motion sensored, remote-style controller.

Before E3, I believed that the Xbox 360 was doomed. First, because it is less graphically capable than the PS3 (due in November). Second, because the games I've seen haven't been that graphically great. Third, it has no next-generation DVD device. The third reason is particularly important because the format war will be waged this year and next year in an unusual way - on consoles. Microsoft will sell an HD-DVD add-on for the 360 (not priced yet). Meanwhile, the PS3 will come with a Blu-ray player installed. This is why, before E3, I believed the PS3 would completely dominated. In addition to the Blu-ray disc being superior to HD-DVD, the player comes installed on the PS3. The PS3 is already a superior system to the 360 in terms of computing power. You've got a great home entertainment system with one payment. If you want to go the other way, having a 360 home with HD-DVD capability, you pay twice - once for the system, once for the player.

Also, before E3, I feared for the future of Nintendo. Above Microsoft and Sony, I value, honor, and support the work of Nintendo. But after I saw its new controller system, which seemed to me like a gimmick, heard the name of its system, Wii, and learned that the Wii would be less capable than either the 360 and the PS3, I thought for sure that Nintendo would go the way of Sega. I don't know if you remember, but on 9/9/1999, the Sega Dreamcast was released. It tanked. Sega left the console business because of that. I believed, before E3, that Nintendo would be the same way.

E3 has left me with a renewed sense of awe and respect for Nintendo's determination to remain true to its roots. Nintendo has insisted that it no longer wants to be compared to Microsoft or Sony. It is not in the business of changing the way people's living rooms are set up. It is in the business of making games that are fun to play. With the Wii, I believe it has brought its video games to a much broader audience. I have heard from critics that the controller for the Nintendo is intuitive and manageable. Above that, it is fun to use. For example, in a tennis game at E3, players used the remote-like controller like a racket. Nintendo says the controller's motion sensors are such that tennis players can apply slice and top spin. In Madden NFL 07 for the Wii, to pass the ball, rather than punch a button, you move the controller as if throwing it in the direction of the receiver. To hike the football, you just jerk the controller up. You also move the controller to kick the ball. Choosing a play or changing the player you control is as simple as pointing and clicking at the TV. This more interactive, intuitive, and simplistic way of controlling (there are much fewer buttons on the controller compared to the 360 and PS3's), makes it easy and fun for parents, young children, and even grandparents to play and actually compete with the teenagers who play video games more often. With Zelda and Super Smash Bros. on the way, the future for Nintendo's Wii is bright, indeed. And with a price tag rumored to be in the 200-300 dollar range, most Americans will be able to afford to be a part of that future.

Microsoft's 360 seems like it will succeed. Not to the extent that the PS and PS2 have succeeded, but enough for it to earn Microsoft an entrance to the NEXT-generation console war. I am totally unsure about the Sony Playstation 3. While I think its price of $600 dollars is insanely high, the benefit of having a pre-installed Blu-ray player and the best graphics console in the world is enough to make many people want to pay to have it. But will enough people see that benefit? Or will they see the price tag of 600, look at the 400 price tag for the 360 and buy it instead? I'm on the post on this one. In my gut, I believe people will accept the PS3 and make it successful. But my mind tells me that it all depends on which format wins, blu-ray or HD.

Evolution: The "Debate"

When it comes to science, pop culture is the last frontier. When a scientific theory becomes part of mainstream pop culture, becomes the topic of secular entertainment, it is safe to say that it is accepted by the community at large. In 1995, a Friends episode featured a debate about evolution between Ross, an anthropologist, and Phoebe, a hippie. Ross could not believe his ears when Phoebe said she did not believe in evolution. He spent the rest of the episode bringing her evidence, trying to prove to her that it was true. Phoebe wasn't interested. The only thing she wanted Ross to admit was that scientists had been wrong in the past, and they could be wrong now. At the end, Ross admitted that there was "a teeny, tiny possibility" that evolution was not the correct explanation. When it is possible for that type of "debate" to occur on national prime time TV, it's safe to say that evolution is accepted.

In the November 2004 issue of National Geographic Magazine, the front cover showed the head of a lizard and in large print "Was Darwin Wrong?"

Upon seeing the cover, I couldn't believe my eyes. Was National Geographic so desperate that they had to stoop to another "debate" on the validity of evolution? I flipped to the first page of the article. Again, "Was Darwin Wrong?" in big letters overlaying the image of a bird. I shook my head as I turned the page. In a calm gray font:

Indeed, "overwhelming" is the correct word. And it just got more overwhelming.

Last month, an international team of anthropologists reported on the discovery of fossils that filled a crucial gap in the evolutionary timeline of homonids. About five million years ago, it is known, a hominid genus known as Ardipithecus walked (probably) the Earth. It disappeared about 4.4 million years ago. It was only until 3.9 million years ago, that the next genus that we knew of evolved. This was the Australopithecus genus, made famous by the fossil of "Lucy". In between those two genuses, there was a 500 thousand year gap. It has been filled by the most primitive species of Australopithecus. This new species is called Australopithecus anamensis. The findings were reported in the April 13 issue of the journal Nature. Below, you can see a timeline of Hominid evolution.

Colbert: White House Correspondent's Dinner

Saturday night was a relatively light-hearted affair. That is, until Colbert took the floor. He slowly, but with humor that neither I nor any of his critics could hope to replicate, took Bush apart and the press apart. It was brilliant. And extremely courageous. Amidst an intensely hostile crowd (celebrities, politicians, news reporters - people with egos to maintain), he managed to get through a speech that would make anyone uncomfortable. I'm watching in the safety of my room, and I felt the tension.For him to be able to look the President in the face, and to be able to stand in front of people whom he is criticizing, I can think of no one who deserves more accolades than Stephen Colbert for that speech. You can find the entire speech on video at the links below.

http://video.freevideoblog.com/video/AAC7FA18-2DDC-4D3E-B1BB-9D6CBD83E27F.htm